A New Beginning
by LeoniaKat
Summary: Tragedy strikes a happily married Nick and Nat... This story is complete but if I get enough feedback, I may write a followup.
1. An End

09-02-04

An End

by LeoniaKat

This story takes place around the end of the second season.

Too late. Too damn late! He knew it the moment he had felt the pain from his son. He knew there was no hope that he'd arrive in time to save him. He did arrive in time to practically rip the head off the hunter who had destroyed his most precious child.

Natalie parked the car in the driveway and grabbed the grocery bag on the passenger's seat. She had her keys out and ready to unlock the front door of the home she shared with Nicholas. The marriage wasn't perfect, but then again, whose was? They still hadn't found a cure for him but they had found ways around that little problem.

Her first sign of trouble was the front door which was slightly open. She was positive she had locked it before her little trip to the store. She pushed it open with one foot, listening for any sounds, anything to explain why the door was open. She placed the groceries on a stand just within the entryway. She was about to head to the bedroom to check on Nick when a roar of what sounded like anguish reached her ears.

Throwing caution to the wind, she ran upstairs and to the master bedroom. Pushing open the door, it would only open partially as it collided with something. She squeezed through the opening and froze in terror.

There, cradling her husband's limp body, bloody tears streaking his face, sat Lacroix. Everything seemed to go in slow motion from that point. She cried out and collapsed to her knees. The love of her life, her reason for living, was gone. She knew it as surely as she knew she no longer wanted to live.

Lacroix looked up from his beloved son's face after a time, knowing the sun had set as he'd sat there. He was surprised to see Natalie Lambert kneeling across from him. She was mumbling, tears streaking her face. He wondered how long she had been here as he focused on her words.

"I should have been here… Shouldn't have left during the day… Should have been here…" Over and over her mantra continued.

Lacroix felt his anger growing. If he hadn't allowed his son to run off and marry this woman, maybe his son would still be alive. If they hadn't been so far away… maybe he would have gotten here in time.

He gently laid his son's body on the floor and rose. He wiped at his face, feeling an unexpected wetness there. He moved to tower over the mortal woman. She looked up at him before resignedly dropping her head.

Furious, he grabbed her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. She offered him no resistance, which only served to make him angrier. He grasped her shoulders with a bruising strength and tilted her head to one side. She turned it farther for him as he moved to sink his fangs in her neck.

The hunter's blood had calmed his anger for a short while but it had returned with a vengeance. He reared his head back and viciously struck. Swallowing a mouthful of her blood, he quickly released her and drew back.

Natalie had been prepared to die, had _wanted_ to die, when she suddenly found herself released. She looked up at the man she was sure would be her death, "Why did you stop? Damn you!" She raised her fists and beat at him.

He grabbed her wrists, although her blows barely affected him. "Believe me, Dr. Lambert; I want to kill you… But even I do not kill unborn babies."

The words took almost a full minute to penetrate her brain, "What are you talking about? I've only been with Nick," she said, the name of her husband bringing fresh tears to her eyes as she looked down at his too-still body.

"I'm aware of that," Lacroix responded. "It's rare, but it does occasionally happen. To kill you would be to destroy the last piece of my son."

Nat placed a hand on her abdomen, "You're sure, Lacroix?"

"Yes," he responded quietly. "I will deal with the body of this hunter, and then I will return to bury my son."

Natalie glanced at the floor behind the door, for the first time seeing what had blocked its opening fully. "He would have liked that," she responded as he hefted the nearly-decapitated body of the hunter.

He left without replying, leaving her alone with her husband's body. She moved to his side and knelt beside him. Her grief was turning into a sort of numbness.

"Oh, Nick, I'm so sorry. I should have been here…" The tears began anew but she didn't care, "Did you know that I'm pregnant? We're going to have a child, Nick. We thought we would have forever. I guess things didn't work out as we planned. I don't know how I'm going to go on without you." She paused and dashed at her tears, "I know you're in heaven. I know God would have forgiven you, my love." She sat for a time, not speaking, simply saying a silent prayer to the God Nick had believed in for eight hundred years.

She had no idea how long she sat there before Lacroix returned. She heard the front door open and close, and then he was beside her. She looked up at him, "I'm so sorry, Lacroix. If I'd been here…"

"You would be lying dead next to him," he cut her off quickly. "Hunters don't concern themselves deciding who is innocent and who is not."

"I should have been here," she whispered defiantly.

He knelt beside her and gently lifted his son into his arms, "Come." He rose and led her outside and to her car. "Do you have a shovel?"

She nodded and went to the garage, emerging a moment later with a large shovel in hand that she placed in the trunk. She ran back inside the house and exited a couple seconds later with a small wooden box, which she also placed in the trunk.

He laid the body of his son on the back seat and got in the passenger's seat as Natalie sat behind the wheel.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she started the car.

"We will find an isolated spot by the river to bury him." The words sounded so very final to one as accustomed to death as he.

"I know a place," she responded, thinking back to the flights Nick had taken her for. She silently drove them, the sadness rising up to engulf her the closer they got. She pulled into a hidden road through the woods. Parking at the end of it, she finally spoke, "We have to walk a little to get to the spot."

Lacroix wordlessly exited the car and gently lifted his son. He kicked the door closed behind him.

Natalie got out of the car and extracted the shovel and the box from the trunk. As an afterthought, she grabbed the blanket she kept in there as well. Closing the trunk, she silently led Lacroix through the woods, leading them towards the sound of running water. They emerged in a small, riverside clearing. The river was maybe five meters wide and was flowing quite quickly. It reflected the brilliant orange of a full harvest moon.

The sight of the clearing brought new tears to Natalie's eyes as she recalled the happy times she and Nick had spent here. Those were all over now. Now, she had to figure out how to carry on alone and how to best raise the child growing within her. She placed the shovel and box on the ground before spreading out the blanket.

Lacroix was momentarily awed by the beauty of the clearing the doctor had led him to. He glanced down at his son and whispered too quietly for the mortal to possibly hear, "No parent should ever have to bury their child."

He watched her lay out the blanket and found himself irrationally glad that he didn't have to place Nicholas on the cold ground. Lying down his son, he picked up the shovel and momentarily considered the clearing before choosing a spot close to the river and digging.

Natalie sat beside her husband's body, holding his much-too-cold hand, and watching Lacroix dig the grave. She reviewed the three years of their marriage. She found herself pondering the what-ifs. What if he had brought her across when they had first married? What if they hadn't accepted Lacroix' offer for him to leave them alone for a time? What if, what if, what if… She suddenly realized there was little or nothing she could have done to change the situation. It didn't help much, though.

She was broken out of her reverie by Lacroix dropping the shovel to the side of the hole he had dug. She looked down at her husband a final time, committing everything about him to memory. Then Lacroix was covering the body with the sides of the blanket before lifting him and placing him in the grave. Natalie followed, carrying the wooden box in hand.

She opened the box, glanced at St. Joan's cross before closing it again, and then she placed the box into the grave next to Nick. "Goodbye, my husband, my love," she whispered before tossing a handful of dirt down into the grave. Everything she felt she needed to say had already been said. She walked away, granting Lacroix a moment of peace.

Watching the mortal say her goodbye to his son made him reconsider his assessment of the woman. Years ago, before allowing their marriage, he had seen her as competition for his son's love. Then, when his son had taken back the pocket watch with 'Forever' engraved within it, he had listened to his son's pleas to allow him to marry the mortal. Against his better judgment, he had agreed. Now, the life the mortal carried within her was all he had left of his son.

"Nicholas," he began, his voice a mere whisper, "I hope that you have found the salvation you sought. Natalie has my protection, my son. None shall harm her. The child within her also has that same protection. As do the children of that child and so on until the day I too take my eternal rest." He paused and glanced up at the moon, "Know that I loved you above all. You were my only son and I was always proud of you. No matter how hard we fought, my love for you never faltered." He bent and lifted a handful of sand, "Goodbye, my son."

As soon as he finished filling the hole, he carried the shovel to where Natalie stood crying. He gently embraced her, "You and your child and your children's children and so on have my eternal protection."

"Thank… thank you, Lacroix," she stuttered around her hiccoughs.

He pulled away, "You will come and live with me, then. There are those who will fear your knowledge of us with Nicholas' death."

She nodded; she had no desire to ever return to their house again. She turned away from Nicholas' grave and took the first steps to a new life…

To be continued…


	2. A Beginning

09-02-04

Takes place 9 months after "An End"

A Beginning

by LeoniaKat

The labor had gone surprisingly smoothly, though the gentle mental push Lacroix had given her certainly hadn't hurt. Natalie had decided not to have drugs administered since she wasn't sure of the child's true nature and she didn't want to take any risks. Now, the nurse was handing her a cleaned-up baby girl.

Staring down at the miracle in her hands, she couldn't help but smile at the lock of golden brown hair topping the baby's head. She glanced up at the man – vampire – standing beside her. "She has her father's hair," she said quietly, wistfully.

"Yes, and his blue eyes," Lacroix replied, reaching down a hand to finger that small curl of hair. "Have you decided upon a name yet?" They had discussed this matter more and more often lately.

"Yes, Diana de Brabant."

"The goddess of the hunt," he said quietly, his voice carrying a trace of humor. "I see you decided to give her her father's name."

"It's the only thing of his I can really give to her," she replied.

He nodded, feeling the loss of his son more keenly at this moment than he had in the past nine months.

Natalie glanced up at him, having a good feeling what he was thinking. She'd grown better at reading the subtle changes in his face over the past few months. "Would you like to hold her?" she asked quietly, trusting him completely with her daughter. She knew he would keep his word to protect her family. She saw a flicker of surprise in his eyes, "I trust you, Lucien," she said, using his first name which was a privilege he had granted her but which she rarely took advantage of. "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be living in your home."

He nodded, knowing it to be the truth. He carefully accepted the tiny bundle which she lifted up for him. He automatically fell into the position in which he had held his mortal daughter, Divia, when she was a new infant. As he gently cradled her, he mindlessly hummed a tune which he'd hummed to his own daughter.

"That's beautiful," Natalie said quietly. "What is it?"

Surprised, he realized he'd been humming, "Just an old tune I used to sing to Divia."

She smiled softly as she watched the vampire rocking her baby to sleep. Silently, she wished her husband were here to see his daughter.

They arrived home two days later. Natalie had carried Diana inside and Lacroix led them to the newly remodeled baby's room. There was every essential item – changing table, crib, a comfortable rocking chair – along with some non-essential but welcome additions – like the automatic bottle warmer and the hi-tech diaper disposal unit. She swore he was going to spoil her daughter rotten. Not that she was going to complain, mind you. He was taking his role as 'uncle' very seriously.

She had decided she wanted to have her daughter baptized, a decision Lacroix had scoffed at. She had informed him that she was going to ask Nick's old partner, Don Schanke, and his wife, Myra, to be Diana's godparents. Natalie knew Nick would have wanted her to ask them.

At the time of Nick's death, she knew that they would have to find some way to let the mortal world know that he was dead. One of Lacroix' contacts had designed an 'accidental' explosion in their home which would have left nothing but ashes of any mortal living there. It was officially declared an accident – Natalie having been at a supermarket buying food at the time. They went through the ceremony of a funeral, though there was no priest or religious icons.

That was the last time she had seen the Schankes, though they remained in contact through letters and phone calls. At the funeral, she had told them she was pregnant. Two weeks ago they had sent her a package of baby supplies. Now, she picked up the phone to invite them to Diana's baptism.

Two weeks later…

A little past noon, the limo pulled up in front of the house she shared with Lacroix. She had made all of the arrangements for the Schankes, including first class plane tickets and the limo to pick them up at the airport. They would be staying at the house in the two guest bedrooms instead of a hotel.

It had taken a bit of arguing with Lacroix to arrange that, but he had finally allowed it. At the funeral they had been forced to explain his relation to Nick. They had decided to say that they were step-brothers – Lucien being the elder of the two – and they had public records created to that effect. In that way, they were now able to say that Lucien was in fact Diana's uncle.

Natalie opened the door and watched Myra, Don, and their daughter Jenny exit the limo as the driver unloaded their bags. She hurried down the driveway and was immediately engulfed by Don in a hug.

"Nat! It's great to see you again! You look fantastic!"

"So do you, Don," she replied, grinning from ear to ear.

Myra took her husband's place, "He's right, you do look fantastic."

"It must be all of those beauty products you sent me," Natalie replied with a smile. She knew Myra took pride in the Skin Pretty products she sold. "Hello, Jenny," she said to the pretty 12 year old standing next to her father. "You're growing up so fast!"

"Where's Diana?" Jenny asked.

"She's inside sleeping," Nat said with a big smile. "Let me help you with your bags."

They all lugged their bags into the large house and Natalie led them to their rooms on the second floor. The house was larger than any place Nat had ever lived before. It actually had two wings. When she'd first seen it, she'd groaned, imagining her infant daughter running and hiding in the house's many rooms.

"You guys will have these two rooms. They each have their own bathroom. The room between them is a shared sitting room," Nat explained. "My room is in the other wing on this floor."

Myra placed her bags on the bed and turned to face Nat, "Is your… brother-in-law… still living here?"

Nat remembered the Schankes' reaction to the news that Nick was related to the infamous NightCrawler. "Yes, he is," she replied. "He's taking his role as uncle very seriously. I swear he's going to spoil Diana rotten."

"Speaking of Diana, we still haven't seen our soon-to-be-godchild," Don prodded, not wanting to discuss Lucien Lacroix.

Nat laughed, "Right this way, then." She led them down the hall to an identical set of three rooms – two bedrooms separated by a sitting room. They entered a room which was obviously the baby's room. Nat moved to the crib and realized it was empty. She opened the door to the adjacent sitting room and found Lucien seated in one of the leather chairs, cradling Diana.

She smiled as she watched him, remembering the first time he had held his 'niece'. "Did she wake you?" she asked. Before the baby had even been born, he had had the house's speaker system in Diana's room changed so it could be used as a baby monitor anywhere in the house.

"No, I was having trouble sleeping, but I heard her fussing so I came down and changed her," he replied as he gracefully stood and faced their house guests. He handed the sleeping baby to her mother. "If you'll excuse me," he said, addressing the Schankes, "I'll try to get some more sleep." Without waiting for a response, he left the room for his own bedroom on the third floor.

Don gave an exaggerated shudder, "That man gives me the creeps."

"Don!" Myra scolded quickly. "Sorry, Nat," she said, apologizing for her husband's behavior.

"It's okay," Nat replied. "I have to admit that when I first met him I had the same reaction. He's a huge help with Diana, though." She offered the baby in her arms to Myra, "Would you like to hold her?"

Myra nodded and carefully took the baby from her, "She has Nick's hair," she commented quietly.

Don studied the baby before looking up at Nat, "I have a question for you, Nat…"

"Shoot," she said, smiling.

"Diana's last name…" he trailed off, not sure how to tactfully ask the question he wanted to ask.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that," Nat replied, having already considered an answer for that. "If you're wondering if she's really Nick's daughter, she is. Knight wasn't his real last name." She raised a hand to forestall the question she could see him preparing to ask. "Nick was the honorary Duke of Brabant. His ancestors were the rulers of that small country in what is now Belgium and France. He has land there which has been passed on for generations. The de Brabant Foundation was in fact run by him."

"But why didn't he tell anyone?" Don asked, completely flabbergasted.

"Do you actually think the Toronto PD would have hired a titular Duke as a homicide detective?" Nat asked. "He also didn't want the notoriety."

"Wow," Don responded. "Why was he working at all, then? That charity is worth a ton of money."

Natalie had considered a response to that one as well, "The money the charity was built upon was passed down by his family. It was obtained through some not-so-nice means and when the money fell to Nick, he decided to put it to a good use. He couldn't change the past, but he could try to change the future for some people."

"All that time and I never knew… What happened to the charity?" Don asked.

"Nick's will passed control of it to Lucien. I help him run it now."

"And the lands in Brabant?" Myra asked, still rocking the baby.

"Those he left to me, but his will was written before we even got married. Now that Diana is here, the lands will belong to her, as will the title."

"So she's a Duchess?" Jenny asked with a sparkle in her brown eyes.

"Yes, she is, but she won't know about any of that until she's much older," Nat said. 'Nor will she know about her family's heritage,' she added silently, determined that her daughter never know that vampires exist.

The rest of Nat's week with the Schankes was fantastic. Lacroix grudgingly, and somewhat painfully, attended the baptism. With her friends gone, her life slid back into the boring routine that had begun to develop shortly after Diana had been born.

She itched to return to a job, any job, to break up the monotony. Unfortunately, although Lacroix was willing to help out, she refused to burden him with watching over the baby for more than a couple of hours while she ran out to the store. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but he hadn't asked to be saddled down with a mortal child.

Finally, she asked Lacroix to give her more work to do with the charity. At least that way she could feel useful again. To her surprise, he signed over control of it to her. As he'd said, "You care about it far more than I."

Natalie found her life almost complete. She had a beautiful, healthy, and more importantly fully mortal, daughter. She had a job where she felt she was making a difference. The only thing she was missing was her husband.

To be continued…


	3. A Step

09-04-04

Takes place 10 years after A Beginning

A Step

by LeoniaKat

Diana carefully pushed the front door open, glad that the door didn't squeak, and slipped inside the house. She didn't know if her mother or uncle had realized that she'd snuck out in the first place but she wasn't taking any chances. She knew they would be mad that she'd gone outside alone after her bedtime. She couldn't help it though; there had been a beautiful, bright orange harvest moon. She had a tree she liked to climb which looked out over the near-by lake. She loved the peace and quiet of the night. It wasn't her fault that in summer it meant she had to be out past her bedtime to enjoy it!

Tiptoeing towards the main staircase, she listened carefully for any clue as to where the adults were in the house. With luck, her uncle would already have left for the night. If she was really lucky, her mother would be in bed already as she had to work early the next morning.

She carefully ascended the stairs, being careful to skip the second stair which creaked and the eighth which groaned. She was three stairs away from the landing of the second floor – and ten steps from her bedroom door – when she heard her mother's door open. She swallowed and decided to risk dashing to her room.

"Diana!"

Uh oh, too late, she thought as she froze and looked up the stairs. There was her uncle, striding towards her. She glanced to her right and saw her mother approaching. She was in deep doo doo now!

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked as he came to a stop before her.

Her heart racing, she considered the striking figure of Uncle Lucien. He was her father's step-brother, though which parent they shared had never been explained to her. His short-cut blond hair and glacial eyes, combined with a sharp nose and chin, made for an imposing individual. He often scared the hell out of her. "I… I went downstairs for a drink of water."

"And you dressed first?" he inquired, his tone making it clear that he knew she was lying. "Do not lie to me. Where were you?"

Not sure if remaining silent or telling the truth would earn her the worse punishment, she opted for remaining silent.

"Answer him," her mother said sternly. "Where were you?"

Diana finally shrugged, "I was outside."

"You know you are not supposed to go outside by yourself, especially at night!" her mother yelled.

"I don't understand why not," Diana replied defiantly. "It's not like I'm going to get hurt or anything." She immediately realized she'd said something wrong when she saw her uncle removing his belt. She backed up a step before his hand grabbed her shoulder. There was a blur of motion and then the sting of the belt hitting her backside.

"Don't you ever talk back to your mother in such a manner!" Another blur and then another sting. "Nor to any other adult. Do you understand me?"

She blinked back her tears, refusing to let him see them, "Yes, sir."

"Good, now go to your room and stay there. If I catch you sneaking outside again…" he trailed off and glanced at his belt meaningfully. He released her, "Now go."

Diana scampered off to her room, letting her tears flow freely now. Dang but that belt had hurt! She realized it really was her fault for getting caught. At least he hadn't made her promise not to sneak outside again. She always did keep her promises.

As she changed back into her pajamas, she thought back to the last big promise she'd made to her uncle…

Five years ago…

Sitting in the principal's office was not exactly where she wanted to be on her first day of school. She knew her mom was on her way to the school to meet with the principal and that she was going to be angry. She scuffed her feet as she waited. Her hand still hurt from where she'd punched Billy Johnson. She rubbed at the knuckles, smiling as she remembered how he'd dropped like a puppet with no strings.

Diana turned her head as the door to the office opened and her mother walked in. She'd never seen her mom look that angry before. She swallowed and stayed seated.

The door to the principal's room opened and Principal Blake stepped out to meet her mom. "Ms. Lambert, I presume. I'm Principal Dave Blake. I'm sorry to have called you to come down here…"

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Blake." She tossed an angry glare at Diana. "You said my daughter had been in a fight?"

"Why don't we go into my office to discuss this?"

Diana rose and hesitantly followed the adults into the other room. She sat in the chair next to her mother in front of the desk.

"Now," the principal began, "I asked the teacher to explain what happened and although Diana did hit another student, it appears that she did it in defense of another student. Billy Johnson and two other students were preparing to hit another student, Kylie Tucker, when they were outside. Diana saw this and struck Billy, giving him a bloody nose."

"They were going to hurt her!" Diana interjected. "I couldn't let them hurt her."

"Diana! You are in enough trouble already, young lady," her mother said quickly. "I don't care why you did it, you are never to hit anyone. Do you understand me?"

She dropped her head, "Yes mom."

"Normally, we have to suspend students for fighting, but it's the first day of school. I think we can let her go with a warning this time, but if it happens again…"

"It won't," Diana said quickly.

"Good," the principal said. "Thank you for coming down here, Ms. Lambert."

"No problem," Nat said quietly.

Their drive home was made in silence. When they got home, her mother stopped her before she went to her room. "You will tell your uncle why I had to go see your principal today."

"Yes, mom."

When her uncle woke that evening, she had to explain the entire situation to him. It was the first time he'd taken his belt to her. He then made her promise not to fight in school again.

Three weeks later she asked her mother if she could take martial arts lessons. When her mother asked her why, she said it was so she could defend herself if she was ever in Kylie's position.

Present…

She glanced up at the shelf with her accumulated trophies. She had kept her promise to her uncle, finding ways to talk through situations, even when she felt like simply throwing a well-aimed punch.

This fall she'd be starting middle school. She realized she'd be back at the bottom of the school hierarchy again. She pushed those thoughts aside for the present as she still had a month left of summer. For now, she needed to consider a new strategy for getting out and back into the house. After all, she'd never promised not to go out again.

Lacroix had watched his niece retreat to her room. He glanced at Natalie, "That girl becomes more like her father every day." He too was remembering Diana's first day of school.

"Not just in looks," Natalie agreed.

"She has his confrontational nature."

"Combined with a rebelliousness and desire to protect other people," Natalie added, having also been thinking of that incident five years ago.

"With her curiosity, penchant for high places, and love of the night, we had better watch her carefully." Lacroix replaced his belt. "We should be grateful she hasn't a vampire's abilities. You have no idea how difficult life with Nicholas was in those first years."

Natalie smiled slightly, "Why don't you tell me about it over a drink." She gestured downstairs and watched him nod. She led him down, eager at the prospect of getting to hear stories of her late husband that Nick had never been willing to share.

To be continued…


	4. A Trial

09-05-04

Takes place 6 years after A Step

A Trial

by LeoniaKat

Natalie frowned at Lacroix as he told her what he was giving Diana for her sixteenth birthday. "And I still say you are spoiling that girl rotten. She's too young to have her own car."

"No, she's not. I did tell you that it is provisional on her passing her driving test."

Nat sighed, "I think this is a bad idea. You know as well as I that she's been sneaking out of the house at night for the last six years. I know we decided to look the other way after you'd followed her periodically and found that she was just out for the solitude. Now you want to give her a car?"

"We have to trust her eventually," he said. "I won't follow her around her whole life," he said. "As it is, I'm going to have to leave soon before she notices that I don't seem to age."

This was news to Natalie who had simply assumed he would be around a lot longer. She found herself… disappointed? She shook her head to dislodge that thought, "Right. I hadn't thought about that."

"It was your decision not to tell her about my true nature," he reminded her. Personally, he wished he could tell Diana, but he had promised Natalie that he wouldn't. He could understand Natalie's reasons. He too feared that Diana would bring attention to herself. On the other hand, he saw many of the same qualities in the girl as he had seen in her father.

"And I still stick by that decision," she said firmly. "There is no reason for her to ever know. Back to the car… I still feel uneasy about this."

"I promise you it will not be a sports car. Nor will it be new. I was thinking perhaps… a Cadillac… maybe teal green," he said with a small smile.

Natalie laughed, "I hear they have lots of trunk space." Her smile turned sad suddenly. "I still miss him, Lucien."

"As do I Natalie, as do I."

Their talk was interrupted by a long-haired, tall girl who breezed into the kitchen. "Hey mom, uncle Lucien." She moved to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of soda before moving to the table. She pulled out a chair and gracefully folded a leg under herself. Putting on her most innocent look, she turned to her mother, "Mom, I was wondering if I could go to Kylie's house tonight. She's having a small party…"

Natalie and Lucien exchanged looks before Nat turned back to her daughter. "Ok, who's going to be there? Will her parents be there? When will it end? How do you think you're going to get home?"

Diana sighed. Every time she wanted to go somewhere she had to face the inquisition. "Just a couple of people from our class. I don't know if her parents will be there or not, I think her mom will be. It's going to end at midnight." She gave her mom a pair of puppy dog eyes, "I was kinda hoping you could pick me up…"

"First things first," Nat began sternly, "Saying 'just a couple of people from class' tells me nothing. You don't know if her parents will be there? You know the rule – no parents no party. Midnight is an hour after your curfew and you have school tomorrow morning. As for me picking you up, think again. I have to be at work early tomorrow morning."

Diana pouted, "But mom," she whined.

"I think what your mother was trying to say was 'no'," Lacroix said quietly.

She grabbed her soda and stormed from the room.

Natalie sighed. This scene was becoming more and more common. The 'rules' were enacted after Lacroix had picked her up from a party when she was thirteen and had smelled alcohol on her breath. At fourteen, she'd come home from a party smelling of marijuana. Natalie had screamed at her daughter and Lacroix had lectured her for two hours each time.

"You still want to give her a car?" she asked Lacroix.

"At least if she gets it now while I'm still here, I can watch her. I will have to leave within the year I think."

Natalie nodded, "Was Nick really this bad?"

"Worse," he said before leaving the room.

Two weeks later…

Diana opened the small box from her uncle and pulled out a set of keys. She looked at them curiously, "What do these go to?"

He moved to the window overlooking the driveway and gestured outside, "That."

She looked out and her eyes widened. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen a stranger looking car. "That whale of a car?" she asked, keeping her voice neutral. She really was grateful, but it was the last thing she'd expect her fashionable uncle to buy.

"That," he said quietly, "was your father's old car."

She took a deep breath. For years, the subject of her father had been something of a taboo subject. She didn't ask and neither of the adults in her life offered. She'd never even seen a picture of him. She knew his first name and knew that she had his last name. She also knew that he was dead. Beyond that, the others would clam up when he was mentioned.

"Tell me about him?" she asked quietly.

Lacroix turned away, "Why don't you take your mother and go for a drive?"

Again she'd been turned away. "Damn it!" she yelled. "Why won't anyone tell me anything about him!"

Her uncle began to silently walk away, and she reached out and grabbed his arm. Her turned his head and fixed her with a withering stare, "Release my arm."

She did so but she didn't back off, "Why are there no pictures of him here? Why won't you tell me who he was? You won't even tell me where he's buried!" She went to leave the room when her mother came and stood in the doorway.

"What's going on here?" Nat asked, having heard her daughter yelling.

Diana stared at her mother, "Why won't you tell me anything about my father?"

Nat turned her gaze to Lacroix who simply shrugged.

"Right, I got it, you don't want to talk about him. Fine!" Diana stormed past her mother and ran upstairs.

Nat and Lacroix flinched when they heard the door to her room slam shut.

Lacroix turned to face the mortal woman, "You'll eventually have to tell her something."

"Yes, but not today," Natalie responded, turning away.

Three weeks later…

Nat had been sleeping when the phone rang. She heard it ring twice before stopping and she assumed Lacroix had picked it up. She was about to fall back asleep when she heard her bedroom door open. She glanced up, "Lucien?"

"That phone call was from the police station down on the corner of Main and Post. Diana's okay," he said quickly, seeing the panic cross Natalie's face. "They brought her and three other kids in when they caught them using fake IDs in a club. I'll go down there now and pick her up."

"Damn it! I didn't even know she was out. Did she drive there?"

"No, her car is still in the driveway."

Nat stood up, "Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll come with you."

"I'll wait downstairs." He turned and left the room, his ears easily picking up the swearing coming from Natalie's room.

Diana paced the holding cell she shared with her friends. They were the only ones in the station's small basement. "Damn, my mom's going to kill me for this."

"The IDs almost worked," Beth moaned. "If only the cops hadn't decided to do a random ID check…"

Steve glanced over from his perch on the cell's only bench, "Oh quit whining. We got in, didn't we? Next time we'll go to a different club. It was just bad luck."

Beth glanced over at him and shot him a withering look, "You think there'll be a next time? I'll be lucky if my parents don't ground me for life."

"Ditto," John said, pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against. "My folks will probably take my keys from me." He moved over to Beth and draped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"You may as well have a seat, Di," Steve said, gesturing to the bench.

Diana glanced at her boyfriend of two months, "Thanks, Steve, but I'd rather pace." She had too much nervous energy to possibly sit. She only prayed that her mother came alone to get her.

Ten minutes later she was saying goodbye to Beth and Steve whose parents had arrived almost simultaneously. Five minutes after that, John's mom came to take him home. She was alone for another five minutes before she heard the sound of people coming down into the holding area. She held her breath and let it out in a long sigh as her mother and uncle came into view. They both looked positively livid.

Dropping her head, she waited for the officer to unlock the cell door. She silently followed them up into the main area of the station.

"She's all yours," the officer said as he released her into her family's custody.

Diana wanted nothing more than to go back to lock-up at that moment. If the look on her uncle's face was anything to go by, she was in such a heap of trouble that she didn't know when, if ever, she'd be out of it. She followed them from the station, neither of them saying anything. The minute they got to her mother's car was another matter.

"Of all the stupid, foolish, irresponsible things you have ever done, this one beats them all!" Lacroix said quietly. When her uncle was quiet, it was more frightening then when he raised his voice. "I thought you more intelligent than that, Diana. What were you thinking? Or were you thinking at all?"

"You know you have to go to court for this, don't you?" her mother asked. "If you're lucky, they'll strike it from your record since it's your first offense." She sighed, "If your father were here to see this…" She shook her head. "Get in the car. We'll discuss this more at home."

Diana hung her head and moved to do as her mother said. They hadn't really been thinking of the consequences when they'd decided to do it. Steve had been the one who had found someone to make the IDs. All they had wanted was to see if they could pull off getting into a club.

The drive home was made in silence. Once there, she had to hand over her car keys and she was grounded for a month. No more jaunts outside at night, they'd told her, forcing her to promise that she wouldn't for the whole month. That had hurt more than the six hits she'd gotten from her uncle's belt. They told her that the court date was in two weeks before sending her to bed.

Her month grounded was painfully long. Her record had been cleared by the judge who warned her that another offense of any sort would bring a heavy punishment. When they said she was grounded, they meant it. Her mother drove her to school and picked her up. The minute she was home, she would do her homework. Then, once she'd retired to her room, a bolt on the outside of her door was locked and she was trapped. Her window was too small to crawl through, even if there had been a ledge or something below it to stand on.

On her final day of being grounded, her uncle asked her to come down to the kitchen to talk. He told her he was leaving, that his 'job' was transferring him to Canada.

"When?" she'd asked, surprised.

"In two nights," he'd told her.

Now she was watching him load a handful of large bags into a waiting limo. True, her uncle was incredibly strict with her, but she'd grown used to having him around. "Will you come visit us?" she asked as he came up to her to say goodbye.

"Perhaps," he replied, knowing that he'd never see his niece again. Oh, he would stay in contact with her and her mother, but he couldn't take the risk that she would start questioning his lack of aging.

"I'll miss you," she said sincerely, moving to hug him.

He carefully returned her hug, still unaccustomed to physical displays. "And I you," he responded. He had already said goodbye to Natalie so he turned away now and entered the limo.

Diana watched the limo as it rolled down the driveway and out of sight. She dashed at the tears on her cheeks and went inside.

To be continued…


	5. A Discovery

09-06-04

Takes place 2 years after A Trial

A Discovery

by LeoniaKat

Diana walked out of her once-a-week high school elective class and smiled. She had thought to take this silly course on learning how to do research for papers more efficiently, thinking it would be a couple of easy credits. Instead, it had given her a brainstorm. She realized that it was highly possibly that she could use these methods to find out about her father. Granted, she'd done some internet searches years ago on her last name. The only things of interest at the time were the charity foundation her mother ran and some references to the country of Brabant.

That was then, though. Now, as she went to the school's computer lab during her lunch break, she knew better how and where to look. She had learned that search engines didn't always pick up everything. With some of them, people had to register to be listed on them, and thus there were bound to be other pages which went unlisted.

First things first would be to plug the name back in to see if any new information had been listed. She pulled up a couple different search engines in separate windows. Plugging in her father's name, she plowed past the entries on the foundation. Those were all dead ends, as she knew from experience.

There were a couple of unfamiliar ones and she moved to open these before moving on to other things. One link she almost passed off as a dead end but decided to check it out anyways. It was a link to the Royal Ontario Art Museum. Opening the link, she saw that it was a picture of a family portrait on display. Curious, she wondered why a 13th century family portrait would have come up as a hit. She glanced at the title, 'Portrait of the de Brabant Family', then – year 1222. Interesting. She pulled out a disk and copied the webpage to it.

Another search engine brought her to an old textbook entitled 'The History of Brabant'. This contained a family tree for the Dukes of Brabant, which seemed to be incomplete, as well as information on the family. This was too big to place on the disk, but she wrote the website in her notebook, as well as the publishing information. She could try to get a copy at the city library. She glanced at the clock and realized she had to get to her next class.

She'd pushed all thoughts of her search for her father aside for the next couple of hours. The minute she got home, though, was another story. So far, she felt like she'd found nothing useful. She racked her brain for anything and everything her mother may have said directly or indirectly that might help. Nothing!

Diana booted up her computer and connected to the internet. What was it her electives teacher had said today – "When you think you're at a dead end, go right back to the beginning and try something slightly different." Typing her mother's name into the search engine, she came up with a dozen different Natalie Lamberts. Ok, narrow it down… She added Canada to her search – her mom having told her she'd worked there years ago – and suddenly she found her. She discovered that her mother worked for the Toronto coroner's office. She knew that at some point her mother had mentioned that she'd met Diana's godfather, Don Schanke, in Canada.

She typed in Don's name, along with Toronto PD. The first site she found brought her up short. It was an awards listing for the city of Toronto police department. She opened it and scrolled down the names until she came to an award for Partners of the Month, June 1995 – Don Schanke and Nicholas Knight. She clicked on their names, curious what it linked to. She quickly realized that it was a picture and waited as it loaded.

On the left was a younger version of her godfather. She didn't see him often, but he managed to visit them almost every Christmas. They'd flown to Montreal just last year to go to Jenny's wedding.

The man on the right was listed as Nicholas Knight. According to this, they were both homicide detectives. Why does he look familiar, she wondered. Ok, so her mom was working in Toronto at the same time that Don was working for the police department. Hmm… Was it possible that Nick Knight was really Nicholas de Brabant?

She typed Nick Knight into the search engine and found herself back at the Toronto PD site. Then she went to Canada's birth registry website. Looking for his birth records turned up nothing usable. Maybe he wasn't born in Canada. She pulled up the US site. Again nothing. That was getting her nowhere. She did find an obituary for him which stated that he died 8 months before she was born.

Go back to the beginning, she reminded herself. She popped her disk in the drive and pulled up the picture of the family portrait and studied it again. Wait a second… She studied the face of the young man in the portrait. How was it he looked almost identical to the picture of Nick Knight from 1995? She minimized that screen and pulled up the website of the history text. She searched the family tree around 1222. There was an Henri, but he would have been nearly 45. He must have been the older man in the portrait. There was a Nicolas who would have been about 29. That must have been him, then. There was no other it could be.

Ok, now to search the textbook for a Nicolas de Brabant. That part was easy. She found him quickly, skimming the text. According to this, he was a knight who was sent to fight in the Crusades. He was captured and eventually escaped and returned home. Then he simply disappeared and there was no further mention of him. She copied the text and pasted it into a word-processor.

Diana decided that it was simply an interesting coincidence that these two men born almost 800 years apart looked so similar. However, she was almost certain that they were related.

Curious as to what had happened to the Brabant lands when it became part of Belgium and France, she skimmed to the end of the textbook. "Although most of the lands of Brabant became part of France and Belgium, the title of the Duke of Brabant was continued as an honorary title. Also, only one of the land's many medieval castles survive to this day. It is maintained by the Canadian charity, the de Brabant Foundation." Her eyes widened. "Maybe this is a really old book," she mumbled quietly to herself as she scrolled back to the top to find the publication date – 1944. Ok, so maybe it was out of date. "I guess there's little hope of contacting the author, then," she said aloud, glancing at the author's name. Nick Girard.

What was with all of the people named Nick or Nicholas today? She almost laughed it off but typed Nick Girard into a search engine as a lark. She came up with a newspaper article about a college professor being fired after they claimed he was a socialist. She clicked on the link to a photo and she felt her heart fall to her stomach. What were the odds that three different people, from three different times, with three different surnames, could look _exactly_ alike? Astronomical, she was sure.

She stood and paced across her room, mentally ordering what she knew. Ok, is there any way to find any more connections? She'd already searched her mother and found what she expected to find. Now what? Her uncle! She practically flew back to the computer and typed in – Lucien Lacroix.

The first hits were fan sites for a radio show he'd apparently done in – surprise – Toronto. Then she found an official site for his old program, surprised to find it still up until she saw that it had been syndicated and was still running across the US. Unfortunately, none of the stations that carried it could be picked up where she lived but she could get them online. She made notes of station call letters and the times, intending to listen to the show.

Back at the search engine, she found a couple of other links. One was to an old picture from World War I. There stood General Lucien Lacroix, and not looking a day younger than when she'd last seen him 2 years ago. She tried to reason with herself that this was possibly his grandfather.

Ok, back to the search engine. There was another link to another war photo, this one from the Second World War. Again, General Lucien Lacroix looked not a day older than the previous photo. Never mind that this was taken almost thirty years later… She did some quick mental math, trying to find a rational explanation, any explanation, to account for the eerie coincidence that again, three people from different times could look identical. It was possible that this was Lucien's father. They'd told her that Lucien and her father were stepbrothers. Maybe they'd had different fathers, then…

She printed out all of the photos she had found before going back to the search engine. She found another link under her uncle's name which led her to the passing of a deed for a nightclub in Toronto. The original owner was a Janette duCharme.

Plugging that name into the search engines, she found a total and complete dead end. That in and of itself was strange and Diana was puzzled by it. She wondered what the odds of coming up empty on a person these days were.

She glanced at the clock and realized her mother would be calling her for supper soon. She had one last thing that she'd just thought of trying. She found the official website for Belgium and clicked the link to have the page in English instead of French. Digging through pages of tourism info and political links, she finally found a buried link to the history of the area and a mention of Brabant. There, she found a link which brought up the history of the holders of the title Duke or Duchess of Brabant. She scrolled to the bottom and her jaw dropped. There, at the very bottom, sat her name with her birth date and the title Duchess. Just above that was listed Nicholas de Brabant, and what a coincidence, his death was the same year as Nicholas Knight.

She printed it out just as her mother called her down to supper. She left the papers in a drawer in her room and decided to wait to confront her mother with what she'd found. Instead, she needed to discover why her family was so secretive about him and why no one had told her she held a title!

The phone rang, slowly waking him from a deep slumber. He could tell it was early in the evening and the sun was still two hours from setting. He finally realized that whoever it was must have had a death wish as the phone kept ringing. He picked it up and growled a groggy but clearly angry, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry to wake you, Lacroix…"

"This had better be good, Aristotle."

"Depends on your idea of good," the other replied. "Someone's been looking up info on Nicholas, and I don't just mean his last incarnation. They also looked up your name and Janette's."

"How?" he growled, significantly more awake now.

"Simply using the internet," Aristotle replied. "I got rid of what I could as soon as I noticed, but I fear I was too late to get all of it."

"Damn," Lacroix growled. "Any idea who it was?"

"Well, that's the confusing part. You see, I knew you were in Ontario, but I traced this back to your stateside house."

"Damn that child!" he roared.

"Wait, you know who did this?" Aristotle asked.

"Do the Enforcers know yet?" Lacroix asked quickly, already moving to stand and dress.

"Probably. You know they flag many of the same files I do. If I noticed…"

"Aristotle, drop everything and get to my house. Now!"

"What? Who looked up those files, Lacroix?"

Knowing that only the whole truth would get the other to do as he'd commanded, he quickly stated, "Nicholas' mortal daughter, Diana de Brabant. Her mother is Natalie Lambert. Now go! They are both under my protection but I won't get there in time."

"I'm going," Aristotle said quickly before hanging up.

Lacroix swore and tried to dial his home in the states but he hit a busy signal.

Natalie set the table and hit the intercom button for Diana's room, "Time for dinner, sweetie." She moved to the fridge and grabbed a carton of orange juice. She'd just turned back to the table when she heard a crash of breaking glass. She dropped the carton on the counter and grabbed a knife. Running in the direction of the living room, she froze as she caught sight of two black figures gliding in through the broken window. She knew at once that these were the dreaded Enforcers Nick had often mentioned.

She turned to run when she saw Diana dashing down the stairs. Not sure if her daughter had heard the breaking glass or was just coming down for dinner, she shouted, "Diana, run!"

She saw her daughter turn and take two steps back upstairs before one of the dark figures flew past her and grabbed her daughter, the other restraining Natalie. "No, let her go! She knows nothing!" Nat pleaded as the knife was forced from her hand and thrown to the floor.

The one holding her from behind leaned down as her daughter was forcibly carried into the room, "I seriously doubt that."

"Mom!"

"We're under the protection of Lucien Lacroix," Nat said quietly, ignoring her daughter for the moment.

"As I see it," the one holding her replied, "You're the only one marked as such." He turned her around and released her, "I trust you know better than to try running?"

Natalie nodded, glancing back at her daughter to see that she was still restrained. "Why are you here?"

"_Someone_," he began, looking pointedly back at the girl, "Was looking into things she shouldn't be."

Nat turned to face her daughter, "Diana?"

"I was looking for information on my father on the internet. You wouldn't tell me anything! What did you expect me to do?" She struggled against the iron grip of her attacker.

"Don't struggle, Diana, you'll only hurt yourself," Nat said quietly. She turned back to the Enforcer who had spoken. "Now what?"

"You know the code. You know the three options, though as we are not here to add to our ranks, there are only two."

He moved past Natalie and she silently watched as he attempted to hypnotize her daughter and she prayed it would take.

A minute later, it was quite obvious that it wouldn't. "Natalie Lambert," he said, turning his head to face her, "There is only one option left." As Nat watched, his eyes yellowed and his fangs dropped.

"No!" The cry came from a new person who suddenly appeared next to Natalie. "Hold Enforcers!"

The changed Enforcer turned fully to face the other vampire, "Ah, Aristotle. A pleasure as always."

"Stow it Ian. I'm here at Lucien's request. They are under his personal protection."

"Ah," he made a show of licking one fang, "but as you yourself can see, only one of the two is marked. The girl is fair game."

"She may be unmarked, but she is his. She is the daughter of Nicholas de Brabant and therefore she belongs to Lucien," Aristotle replied calmly. He was well aware that if it came down to a physical fight, he was outclassed by the two Enforcers. He either had to talk them out of killing the girl or to delay them long enough that Lucien might have a chance to arrive.

Apparently that gave the Enforcer a moment's pause, "Yes, but Nicholas de Brabant is dead, is he not? With no claim left to the father, the daughter is still fair game."

"Fine," Aristotle said, "Then as the eldest here, I lay claim to her."

"We were here first," the Enforcer said lazily, turning to face Diana.

For the first time, Diana saw the altered features of the man before her. She gave a small cry and resumed her efforts to free herself.

"Aristotle, do something!" Nat cried, having recognized the name of the vampire next to her as that belonging to one of Nick's friends.

"I'm trying," he growled at her, his temper close to breaking. "Would you have me try to fight them?" he asked angrily.

"No," a new voice responded from behind Diana and the Enforcers.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Lacroix," Aristotle said, his temper back under control.

Nat breathed a sigh of relief. Never had she been so happy to see Lacroix as she was at this moment.

Diana froze as she heard her uncle's voice behind her. Most of what had been said had gone completely over her head, but the one thing that she did understand is that her uncle was somehow the key to things. "Uncle Lucien?"

"Release my granddaughter, Ian," Lacroix growled from behind her.

She saw Ian nod to the one holding her and she was suddenly free. She stayed where she was, though, sensing that this – whatever it was – wasn't over yet.

"She's unmarked, Lucien, making her fair game," Ian said with a smile which showed off his enlarged canines. His eyes were still a frightening shade of gold.

"I intend to remedy that situation immediately," Lucien said.

"Not so fast," Ian said quickly. "I believe that she is of the age of consent, is she not?" He turned to face Natalie for a moment, "I take back what I said before. I think she would enrich our ranks. It is her choice, Lucius," Ian growled, turning back to face Lucien.

"She doesn't know enough to make an informed decision," Natalie interjected fearfully.

"Neither did most of us," Ian said. "Choose, child."

"Choose what! I don't understand!" Diana turned to face her… uncle… grandfather... whatever, and realized his features were changed like Ian's. "What am I supposed to choose from?" she asked desperately. "What are my options? Live or die?"

"Something like that," he responded. "He would make you like us. You would be tied to him for eternity. Or, I can mark you as belonging to me. You will be as you are now, but you will be under my protection."

Diana tied what she'd just been told with what she'd heard earlier. "How would you mark me? I don't understand."

"I would bite you, feed from you without killing you. Then others will know that you are under my protection."

She chafed at the thought of 'belonging' to anyone, but although the thought of being a vampire intrigued her, she didn't want to be tied to Ian for eternity. They'd also said her mother had been 'marked' so it couldn't be that bad, right? "I choose that then," she said, forcing herself to meet and hold his gaze.

Ian sighed loudly, not that he'd expected her to accept his offer, "If you ever change your mind, child…" He approached and handed her a card, "The offer still stands. You would make a marvelous Enforcer." He took a step back and looked at Lucien, "We're waiting, by the way." He gave him a 'get on with it' gesture.

Diana froze as Lucien approached. He placed one arm around her back and with the other hand he gently tipped her neck to the side. "Relax," he said quietly, "I will not hurt you."

She forced herself to relax as she felt his fangs graze the skin of her neck. Then she felt a sharp sting as he slid his fangs into the vein. Instinctively, she raised her arms and held on to him as he drank from her. She grew dizzy and she felt him removing his fangs as he licked at the wounds. Her knees buckled and she felt him supporting her.

"It's done," he said as he led her to a chair.

"Indeed it is," Ian replied before he and his silent companion disappeared.

Diana sank gratefully into the overstuffed armchair. She dropped her head into her hands and she felt her mother's hand on her arm. "I hope someone will please explain what the hell just happened here," she said much more calmly than she felt.

"Your curiosity almost got you killed," Lucien said angrily.

She carefully looked up, glad that the dizziness had receded, and met his intense gaze, grateful his eyes were their more familiar blue. "No, your refusal to tell me about my father almost got me killed. If I had known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have." She smiled slightly, "Thanks, by the way, for rescuing me from my own stupidity."

"It was my decision not to tell you," her mother said, "And for that I am sorry. We should have trusted you." She turned to face the other man… vampire, "Thank you for helping us, Aristotle. If you hadn't come, she would surely have been killed."

"Yes," Diana said, "Thank you."

Aristotle shrugged nonchalantly, "Your father was a close friend," he said, addressing Diana directly. "Lacroix, if you'll excuse me? I have some things I must attend to."

Lucien nodded, "I owe you, Aristotle."

"I know you'll pay me back someday, Lucien, you always do." With that he exited through the front door instead of the broken window.

"Now, can someone please tell me what is going on? You're a vampire aren't you? And my father was too, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Lucien responded. "I made your father what he was."

"How long ago?"

The questions kept coming, each answer spurring her to ask a dozen more, until she knew the entire, sordid story of her family's past.

To be continued…


	6. A Choice

09-07-04

Takes place 4 years after A Discovery

A Choice

by LeoniaKat

Diana stepped out of the doctor's office and got into her car. As she sat behind the wheel, she glanced at herself in the rearview mirror. Well, at least she knew, didn't she? The question now was, what to do about it? She knew she had three options – one more than most people in her situation had. She could go for chemotherapy and feel like she was dying, not to mention losing her hair… She could get a mastectomy, a drastic step that would be a definite last-ditch move. Or there was the third option…

She started the car and mechanically drove. Instead of going to her apartment – where she'd been living since she started college three years ago – she drove to her childhood home where her family lived. Her uncle had moved back in with her mother after she had discovered the truth about him.

Pulling into the driveway, she didn't immediately exit the car. She knew her mother was still at work and her 'uncle' would be asleep still. She took a couple of deep breaths before heading for the house. She unlocked the door with her own key, slipping quietly inside. It wouldn't do to wake Lucien.

She glanced around, realizing she hadn't been here in at least six months. She'd been so busy with school and work… She called home every week, but it just wasn't the same. She headed for the kitchen, freezing as she heard a stair creak. She moved to the bottom of the sweeping staircase and waited.

"Hello, Diana," her uncle said quietly as he came to stand in front of her.

"Hello Uncle Lucien," she responded quietly.

"Don't you have classes today?" he asked as he led her to the kitchen.

"I had a doctor's appointment," she responded as he pulled his 'breakfast' from the fridge.

He turned to glance at her, measuring her tone of voice she guessed, "Oh? Is everything alright?"

"No," she said quietly, her eyes moving to the wall. "That's why I'm here."

He opened a cabinet next to the fridge and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of Diana's favorite red wine. He said nothing as he opened both bottles and poured drinks for each of them. He brought the drinks to the table, "Have a seat."

She accepted her glass and took a sip, willing herself to relax. "I just got back from an appointment with an oncologist…"

He looked at her, his eyes widened slightly, "Cancer?" She simply nodded, her eyes closed. "Where?" he asked.

"My right breast," she replied softly.

He downed the contents of his glass and filled it again. "Did you tell your mother yet?"

"No, I just found out, not half an hour ago."

"What are your options? They have treatments for it now, do they not?"

"I can go for chemo, but if that fails they would have to remove my breast…" Saying it brought a lump to her throat. She downed the wine in her glass before looking up to meet his gaze, "We both know that there's another option, though."

"No," he said quickly.

"What?" she asked angrily. "Why wouldn't you?"

"Your mother would stake me for even considering it," he responded, moving to stand.

She grabbed his arm, "That's not your reason for refusing me. What is?"

"My respect for your father. He didn't want to be this and I sincerely doubt he would want his only child to be as such." He pulled away from her and left the room.

Diana followed after him, "Damn you, Lucien! You would rather see me sick or living on borrowed time?" She saw him pause at the bottom of the stairs. "Tell me you've never thought about what it would be like to have Nicholas' mortal daughter as your own immortal child!"

He turned slowly, "I have thought about it, which is why I can say no to you now." He turned away and quickly ascended the stairs.

She fell sobbing to her knees. She collected herself quickly, though. She stood and exited the house. She went back to her apartment where she showered and changed.

Natalie arrived home from work and entered the kitchen. She immediately took note of the two open bottles and two glasses on the table. She saw the label on the bottle of wine and realized that Diana must have been here. Lucien ordered those especially for her – Nat's own taste in wines running more toward a dry white. She hadn't seen her daughter's car in the driveway…

Curious now, she went up to Lucien's room and knocked on his door.

"Yes Natalie?" he asked as he opened it.

"Diana was here?"

He gestured her to come into his room, "Yes, she was."

"Why didn't she stay?" Nat asked as she took her favorite seat in Lucien's library.

"We… had something of a disagreement."

Surprised, Nat's eyes widened, "Over what?"

Slowly, carefully, he told Natalie about her daughter's cancer and their ensuing argument.

"She…" Nat swallowed back the sudden tears. "She asked you to… And you said no?" She was surprised, not at her daughter's request, but at Lucien's refusal.

"Of course I refused. She obviously wasn't thinking clearly." He rose and paced over to his fireplace. He turned back to face the mortal woman, "Believe me, I was sorely tempted…"

Natalie had to admit that she was aware that Lucien wanted Diana as his vampiric child. She also knew that he was aware that she'd stake him if he touched her daughter. "Where is she now?"

"I assume she returned to her apartment," he replied.

"You assume? You mean you don't know?" Nat rose, panicked. "You said it yourself, she wasn't thinking clearly, and you simply let her leave!"

"She is not stupid, Natalie. She was in shock when she came here. I'm sure that now that she's had time to think about it, she will have calmed down."

"Sometimes," she said quietly, "You are as dense as your son was." She quickly left the room before he could respond.

Diana ignored her ringing phone as she slipped on her boots and grabbed her purse. If her uncle wouldn't help her, she knew where to look for someone who would.

Shortly after she'd moved out of her uncle's house, she'd been contacted by the Enforcer, Ian. He'd asked her out for a drink and they had actually become, dare she say it, friends. She didn't want to contemplate what her uncle would do if he ever discovered she was friends with an Enforcer. Anyways, he'd brought her to what he'd described as a safe haven for the Community. That first night, being escorted by an Enforcer, had declared to all that she was off limits.

She'd gone back to the club – amusingly named Tooth and Nail – either on her own or with Ian, multiple times since then. Having an Enforcer with her usually meant that she didn't get to talk to anyone else as they avoided him like the plague. On those nights when she'd been alone, she'd conversed with the club's owner. Jeff was an amusing man who appeared to be in his late twenties but who had admitted to be nearing his fifth century.

Now, Diana waded her way through the early night crowd and up to the bar. She nodded a greeting to the bartender, recognizing him from her previous visits. He came over to take her order.

"What will it be tonight, missy?"

"I'll take that bottle of Russian vodka," she said, pointing to the liter bottle of Smirnoff vodka. "And a shot glass."

He shrugged and put the bottle on the bar, picking up the money she'd put down for it.

"Is Jeff here?" she asked him, picking up bottle and glass.

"Not yet. He should be here later. I'll send him your way when he arrives."

She nodded, "Thanks." She moved off and found a table near the back.

Ian walked into the club, looking forward to a quiet night off. He moved to the bar, watching as those around him cleared away, giving him wary and distrustful looks as they did so. Being an Enforcer did nothing for one's social life, he thought wryly as he stood at the bar.

He watched the bartender – a young one named Eric – slowly make his way over to him, glass and bottle in hand. Eric placed the objects on the bar and leaned close, "That girl, Diana, is here."

Surprised, he glanced around the room and back at Eric, "Where?"

A hand gestured towards the dance floor, "Out there. She's been dancing with many of the younger ones…"

Ian felt his anger rise, his eyes flashing gold for the barest moment before he got himself under control. "Thanks, Eric." He gestured to the glass and bottle, "I'll be back for those." He strode off toward the dance floor, his presence causing many of those there to quickly drift away in surprise. Finally, he came upon Diana who was dancing much too close – in his opinion – to a young fledgling who couldn't have been out of his first decade.

He placed a hand on the fledgling's shoulder, "May I cut in?"

"No way old man, find yourself another one, this one's mine," the young one said, not even looking away from Diana.

"That wasn't really a question," Ian said quietly as he grabbed the fledgling's arm with enough force to break the bones.

The fledgling took his first good look at Ian, released the mortal in his arms, and decided that maybe running would be a good idea.

Ian glanced into Diana's angry eyes and placed a hand on her wrist.

She tried to pull away, "Why did you do that, Ian?" Her voice was slightly slurred. "I was having a good time."

Ian pulled her close, surprised at himself for enjoying the feel of her body next to his as they swayed to the music, "Perhaps you were, but were you ready for it to be your last? What is wrong with you? You're not so foolish as to tempt fledglings."

She tipped her head up to look at him, "I've got cancer, Ian. Lucien told me he won't bring me across…" She buried her head into his shoulder.

He could smell alcohol on her breath and the salt of her tears as he reached a hand up to stroke her hair, enjoying the feel of the silken strands in his fingers. He gently pulled away from her, "Come with me. Let's sit and talk, okay?" He placed a hand on the small of her back as he found them an empty table.

"When did you find out?" he gently asked, sitting next to her so he wouldn't have to raise his voice too much to be heard.

"About the cancer? Today, though I knew there was the possibility of it for the past week."

He nodded, turning to thank the waitress who'd brought him the bottle and glass. "Could you bring some coffee for my friend?"

The waitress nodded and moved off.

"So you asked Lucien and he said no?" He saw her quick angry glance, "I'm just trying to understand what happened, Diana."

"Yeah," she nodded as the waitress brought a large mug of coffee. "He said he wouldn't do it out of respect of my father. What about respect for me?" She looked over at Ian, "I don't want to be sick, and I don't want to die." She picked up the mug and looked at him over it, "You offered once…"

He knew she was going to bring that up. It was something he'd thought about after he'd spent a lot of time with her. "I did," he began slowly, "And I've since come to realize that you should not be an Enforcer."

That surprised her, "What changed your mind?"

"You," he said with a small smile. "Our lives are solitary ones. Surely you've noticed the way the others regard me? That is not a life you would want."

She nodded, knowing he was right. "If I come across, can we still be friends?" she asked hesitantly.

He frowned and glanced away, "There's nothing that says you can't, but there is something inherent about the Enforcer blood line which makes others instinctively nervous…"

"Ian," she began softly, waiting until she had his attention before continuing, "You would never harm me without reason, correct?"

"Of course."

"Then, if I come across, I shall do everything to fight any stupid instincts I may inherit." She gave him a bright smile.

He tentatively returned her smile. He found that he did that a lot around this mortal girl. "Perhaps I should escort you home. It's getting late and I fear that some of those who watched you earlier may still be around."

She downed her coffee and made to stand up. She swayed a little, "Maybe that's a good idea. Can you drive?" she asked.

"Yes," he responded, holding out his hand for her keys. He placed his hand on her back and led her from the club. She showed him where her car was parked and they both got in.

"Where am I taking you? Your apartment or your family's house?" he asked.

"Their house," she replied. "I don't want to be alone right now."

He nodded, "Okay."

As they pulled up to the house, he turned to her, only to see that she'd fallen asleep. He turned off the car and shook her gently, "Wake up, Diana. I'd carry you but I doubt Lucien would be happy to see me with you." He could sense the ancient in the house and had no desire to deal with him.

She woke up slowly and opened her eyes to see Ian leaning over her. "Huh?"

He pulled back and opened his door, "Do you think you can walk to the door by yourself?"

She frowned, her eyes twinkling merrily, "Ah, and here I was hoping you'd carry me."

He laughed as he exited the car, "And have Lucien stake me? Thanks but no thanks." He looked up towards the house, "As it is, I've got to fly before he senses me here. Call me tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," she said, grabbing the keys and exiting the car herself. She watched him close the door and take to the sky. A bit unsteadily, she made her way to the door and after two tries finally got the key in the lock.

Opening the front door, she glanced around, hoping her family wouldn't be around. Seeing no one, she eased the door slowly shut and relocked it. Tiptoeing towards the stairs, she froze as she almost collided with Lucien who had just exited the kitchen.

Lacroix had heard the car pull up outside. Now, standing in front of Diana, he could smell the alcohol on her breath and the smoke on her clothes. "Where were you?"

"Out," she responded quietly.

He resisted the urge to growl, "I surmised that from the stench of alcohol and smoke surrounding you. Are you drunk?"

"Is that any of your business?" she asked, moving to go around him.

He grabbed her arm, watching her reach out to the wall with her free hand to steady herself. "It is when you have been driving."

"I didn't drive. A friend brought me home."

"In your own car?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes, in fact. He dropped me off and fl – er… walked… home."

Lucien's eyes flashed gold, "Where, exactly, were you?"

"A club," she said stubbornly, trying to pull her arm away.

He raised the arm he held threateningly, "You will either tell me," he paused and allowed his fangs to drop, "Or I will find out for myself."

Diana paled and her eyes widened, "Okay, okay! I was at the Tooth and Nail."

He growled, "How do you know about that place!"

She shrank back from him as much as she could with her arm restrained. "I have a friend I've met there on occasion."

"Who is this friend?"

She took a deep breath, knowing that what she was about to say would quite probably toss him right over the edge of his control, "The Enforcer, Ian."

He dropped her arm suddenly, "You contacted him!"

She backed up until her back hit a wall, "No, I swear it, he contacted me!"

Nat had been upstairs in her room when she'd heard Diana's car pull up to the house. She'd decided not to ambush her daughter, instead waiting until she heard her enter her old room. When she'd heard the shouting from downstairs, she'd hurried towards the voices, becoming more concerned as they continued rising.

Coming upon the scene of the confrontation, she heard Lacroix ask who Diana's friend was. The answer stole the breath from Nat's lungs for a moment. When she saw her daughter cowering away from Lacroix, she finally got her wits about her. "Lucien!"

Lacroix' control had slipped farther and farther away, the more Diana said. Natalie's voice from behind him pulled his attention away from the scared mortal girl, and allowed him to focus on regaining control of his anger. He forced his fangs to retract and his eyes to lose their angry scarlet – when had they changed from amber? he wondered. He glanced from Natalie to her daughter whose frightened eyes were still upon him. He turned away from Diana and hurried to the kitchen.

He pulled a bottle from the fridge and decided to forego a glass just this once. He pulled the cork out with his teeth and spat it into the sink. He wrinkled his nose at his own uncouth behavior for a moment before tipping the bottle back. He heard two mortal heartbeats enter the kitchen behind them. One of them was running quite a bit faster than normal.

Polishing off the bottle, he placed it in the sink before turning around. "Did he offer to bring you across?" he asked Diana.

"No," she said quietly, her heart rate slowly normalizing. "I did ask him, though, and he refused."

"When is your next doctor's appointment?" he asked, moving to the table.

"Next Monday," she responded. "Why?"

"Your mother will go with you. Monday night we will discuss your options, _all_ of them," he stressed. He glanced at Natalie, "Unless you have an objection to that?"

He watched her pause for a moment before slowly shaking her head, "No. It's probably a good idea."

Nodding, he turned back to Diana, "Do you think that until then you can refrain from any more foolish or risky behavior?"

"I think I can manage that for four days. I promise, I'll be good," she added quickly.

Satisfied, Lacroix nodded, knowing how she valued her promises. "Good. We'll discuss your actions with this Enforcer then as well."

"My actions? I've met him for drinks on occasion, that's all." 'Although,' she thought, 'If I do come across…'

"He is an Enforcer, and not to be trusted. He'll kill you in an instant if he feels it's necessary." Lacroix shook his head, "There is a good reason normal vampires don't spend time with Enforcers. If you come across, you will understand."

Diana nodded, not conceding the point but simply tired of hearing how she shouldn't be friends with Ian. Well, she would just see. She was an adult, after all, and she could decide for herself who to be friends with.

Sighing softly, Lacroix realized suddenly just how much she resembled her father. Her hair was longer than his had ever been, but it was the same color and held the same slight curl. Her eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue than Nicholas' had been. She was almost as tall as his son had been, as well. In terms of personality, she had inherited both of her parents' stubbornness and fire.

He'd told the truth to her earlier. He had considered having her as his child. He had lied though, when he said that was why he could say no. He found himself wanting her more and more every day. He knew that she would make a fantastic vampire. She had the ability to embrace the darker side of her nature which would translate well into her new life. He was slightly concerned that she might have a problem with killing, but he would be more careful in his teaching than he'd been with her father. The only thing stopping him right now was his own promise to Natalie. He'd sworn to protect the child, and that meant from himself as well.

Turning away from the women, he decided to make his own visit to the Tooth and Nail. His hunger this night wouldn't be satisfied with more sustenance from a bottle.

Four days later…

Diana's options, as far as the doctor was concerned, were limited. He was concerned by the rate of growth of the tumor since he'd seen her last. His recommendation was surgery.

Walking out of the doctor's office, Diana glanced at her mother. She thought she'd never seen her looking so old. Her features were drawn and she knew her mother was thinking about tonight's discussion.

Truth be told, Diana was also nervous about the decision to be made tonight. She knew she would again be asking Lacroix to bring her across, but this time he would probably not refuse her. She knew he had asked her mother to accompany her so that the older woman would have the facts in hand. She didn't know that the other reason was so that when Lucien asked Natalie to allow it, she would say yes.

They got to the car with neither of them speaking. "Let's go pick up some food and have a picnic," Natalie suggested quietly. What she didn't add, but both understood, was 'on what may be your last day in the sun.'

"That sounds like a great idea," Diana replied.

They stopped at a grocery store and picked up some already-made sandwiches, some fruit, and a bottle of champagne. Nat directed Diana where to drive and they soon parked at the end of a wooded road – a place Natalie hadn't been since before her daughter had been born.

"What is this place?" Diana asked as she parked the car and they got out.

"I'll show you," Nat replied, "Follow me." She led her daughter to the clearing, her eyes widening as she registered the rose bush blooming over the spot they had buried Nick.

"Oh, mom, it's so beautiful," Diana said, glancing around.

Nat silently walked over to the rose bush, the large, fragrant white roses in full bloom. She stared at it silently for a moment, noticing her daughter approaching. She turned to look at her, "This is where your father is buried."

"What?" Diana asked, not sure she'd heard her mother correctly. That was the final secret, the one thing she had never asked and they had never volunteered.

"Right here, where this rose bush is," Nat said quietly.

"Thank you for bringing me here," Diana said. "It really is beautiful."

Nat smiled, seeing her late husband in her daughter not for the first time. "We should eat and get home before it gets dark."

They sat near the rose bush, inhaling the almost intoxicating fragrance. As they ate, Nat told her daughter stories about Nick which she'd never told before.

"Mom," Diana finally asked as their picnic wound down, "Dad would be mad at me for even thinking about becoming like he was, wouldn't he?"

Natalie contemplated for a moment, "Probably, but I think that under the circumstances, he would understand.

"Are you mad about this, mom?" Diana asked, needing to know.

"I was," she admitted, "But now… I understand and if this is what both you and Lucien decide, I won't argue with it. Do I like the thought of it? No, of course not, but nor do I relish the idea of burying my daughter." She frowned thoughtfully, "Just because this isn't what I want for myself doesn't mean I should stand in your way, if you are _sure_ that this is what you want. Remember, right now, there's no way to go back."

"I know, mom, and I have done a lot of thinking about this, and not just now. When I first found out, well, I'll admit that I did do a good deal of 'what-if' thinking. One of those scenarios I thought about was cancer. I decided then that living, such as it would be, is preferable to death."

"You do know that you can find someone else to ask to do this. You could ask Aristotle. He was a close friend of your father's and I'm pretty sure he'd be willing."

"I know, and I considered that, too. You said before that Lucien is well respected in their community and that he is an ancient. I think that he would be my best bet. I'd be slightly better protected with him as my… sire."

Nat nodded, remembering Nick's long-ago descriptions of the hierarchy of the Community. He'd once explained that because Lacroix was high up there, he and Janette were as well. "You're probably right," she conceded, also thinking that with the way Lacroix felt about family, Diana would be well protected for eternity. What more could a mother ask for?

Diana glanced at her watch, "We should probably go now. He'll be awake soon."

'If he even slept,' Nat thought, knowing that Lacroix' eagerness to have Nicholas' daughter as his own would probably have kept him from sleeping. She nodded to her daughter before glancing back at the rose bush and saying a silent goodbye to Nicholas.

Lacroix anxiously paced across the living room. He had attempted – and failed – to sleep and had finally given up. He found the house empty when he rose and wondered where the women were. Deciding to fortify himself for both the coming discussion and its probable outcome, he had spent time in the kitchen downing bottles of straight human blood.

Hearing a car pulling into the driveway, he glanced out the window, recognizing Natalie's car. He moved to the front door and opened it, greeting the women as they approached. He closed the door once they'd entered, watching them move to take seats in the living room. He followed, taking his preferred chair across from Diana's seat on the couch.

"What did the doctor say?" he inquired lightly.

Diana glanced to her mother who decided to answer for her, "He said that he recommends surgery. Diana's tumor seems to be growing quickly," Nat said quietly.

"Chemotherapy is not an option, then?" he asked, having told Diana they would discuss every option.

"According to him, no," Diana said, glancing between her mother and uncle. "There's the other option…"

"Yes, there is," Lacroix responded, leaning forward slightly. "You have discussed this with your mother, have you not?"

"Yes," Diana replied.

"And you understand what you are asking for?" he asked.

"As well as anyone can, I suppose," she responded, steadily meeting his gaze.

Lacroix turned to face Natalie, "Out of respect for you and my son, I will ask your consent, Natalie."

Nat closed her eyes and silently nodded, unable to speak the words. She turned to her daughter, "You are an adult and I trust your decision."

Diana rose from her chair and approached her uncle, moving to kneel before him. "Uncle Lucien, I ask you to bring me across."

He ran his hand gently through her golden locks which were so like her father's. He gestured her to rise and he did so himself. "You are sure?" he asked one final time, needing to know he wasn't making a mistake like he had done with the girl's father.

She smiled, "Yes."

He nodded; smiling himself as he slowly turned her so he was behind her. Gently restraining her, he brought his head closer to her neck. "Relax, Diana," he whispered, feeling her tense muscles and hearing her heart racing. He kissed the pulse point once before allowing his fangs to drop. He gently eased them into the artery and drank.

Natalie looked away as Lacroix drained her daughter of all but the last of her lifeblood. When she heard him moving she watched as he eased Diana's still form onto the couch before slicing open his wrist and placing it at her mouth, calling her back.

Diana was surprised at the general lack of pain of her uncle's bite. The sensation of her blood being pulled from her was a strange feeling. She'd forced herself not to fight against his grip as he did so, reminding herself that this is what she'd asked for.

Darkness began to play at the edge of her vision as her limbs began to feel heavy. Quicker than she'd expected, the darkness had engulfed her.

Blinking her eyes at the bright light, she found herself conscious and standing. Glancing around, she was confused. Somehow she was back in the clearing they had picnicked in earlier. To her right was a strange door which, as she watched, opened. A figure stepped out and approached her.

"Hello Diana," the man said as he approached.

As he got farther from the bright light of the open door, she could make out his features. They were familiar, though from where, she couldn't immediately remember.

"Where… where am I?" she asked, wracking her brain for where she'd seen this man before. Then it hit her… the eyes, the hair – they were hers. "Father?"

He nodded, smiling. "Come with me, Diana. Please, don't go back."

She shook her head, "I can't stay here." Then, knowing she had to ask, she did so quickly, not knowing how much longer she would have, "Did you find the forgiveness you were looking for, father?"

He smiled sadly, "I know you will go back." Then, his expression changed and she saw a shy smile appear and his form shimmered slightly, a pair of snowy white wings appearing behind him.

She rushed to him, hugged him and kissed him, and quietly asked, "How do I go back?"

He kissed her in return before gesturing in the direction opposite the door, "Just walk that way."

"I will see you again, I know I will. Goodbye father!" With that, she turned away from him and the door and began walking until darkness engulfed her.

Lacroix called her for long, tense moments before finally feeling a tugging on the blood at his wrist. He smiled and glanced up at Natalie who shared his relief.

As Diana's urgent sucking slowed, he pulled his wrist away from her mouth. He brushed his hand down her cheek, feeling their bond forming as she slept.

Diana roused a short time later, the hunger ripping through her abdomen as the pain of her fangs' first descent blinded her. A heartbeat taunted her until a cold bottle was shoved into her hands, its scent drawing her to upend it. Waves of rapture rolled through her as she downed an additional two bottles. Slowly stopping, her vision cleared and she gazed up at her mother and uncle.

As she remembered her crossing, tears sprang to her eyes. Her uncle, concerned, approached, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Diana?"

"I saw my father," she said quietly.

Her mother gasped, a hand rising to her mouth. Lucien's hand developed a slight shudder. "You saw him at the door?" he asked.

Diana nodded and recounted everything she'd seen and all that had been said. Her mother openly wept and she saw Lucien blinking back his own tears.

Lying in bed a while later, Lucien contemplated everything. What Diana told him about Nicholas had eased a weight he hadn't been aware was present in his heart. Now the golden-haired girl was his immortal daughter.

As he let his eyes drift shut, he realized that all was once again right in his world.

The End.


End file.
